I'm Dr. Frank B. Smoot, MA, DD, Christian fitness & weight loss coach. I'd like to share with you a few things I've discovered in my years of helping hundreds of real people become weight loss success stories.

I found out a while back that people were eager to incorporate their Christian beliefs into their weight loss / fitness programs. And when they did, their success rate shot up dramatically.

If you aren't getting the kind of results you'd like from your weight loss programs, here are five possible reasons why:

Mistake #1 - Going To "The World" For Your Solution - The Bible is full of warnings not to look to the world for our answers, including: ".Do not deceive yourselves...the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight." (1 Corinthians 3:18)

When you consider that an astonishing 19 out of 20 weight loss attempts fail, you can see that the $47 billion Weight Loss / Fitness Industry reflects how ineffective the world's ways really are. God has a much better plan!

Mistake #2 - Trying To Solve A Non-Physical Problem With Physical Methods - Simply growing up in the world exposes you to an avalanche of misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies about every subject -- includes health-care and fitness.

The world tells us that "diet and exercise" are the keys to weight loss success. Yet Jesus gives a very different perspective: "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." (Matthew 15:11)

Would it surprise you to know a major new clinical weight loss study recently discovered that the real, root cause of obesity isn't what goes on your plate, but what goes on between your ears?

Mistake #3 - Living In Fear Instead Of Faith - Living in fear is the opposite of living in faith. You can't do both at the same time. But fear has many faces, including doubt, worry, and anxiety. All of these create stress, which for 3/4 of Americans leads to "compensatory" eating -- which leads in turn to -- yep -- obesity.

Mistake #4 - Not Honoring Your Body - It's amazing how many Christians consider their physical bodies mere "shells," and place all their emphasis on spiritual development. Where do they get the idea that it's OK to neglect their bodies? That's certainly not what God tells us:

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Mistake #5 - Now Understanding Why -- Or How -- To Fix Your "Toxic Thinking" - As I noted a minute ago, the real key to weight loss success is in your mind -- in your own beliefs. While the researchers just "discovered" this, it should be "old news" for Christians:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)

Now let me add a 6th mistake that sums up the first five:

Not Trusting That He Who Made You Knows What's Best For You

What will it take to get us pointed away from the world and toward the Word? As the Christmas carol "O Holy Night" says, "Long lay the world in sin and error pining..."

You don't need to do that any more! "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord." (Corinthians 6:17)

May you cast the scales from your eyes and discover God's timeless truth. I guarantee it will change your waistline -- and your life!